COLLEGE STATION, Texas “”mdash; When the UCLA men’s tennis
team returned to school last fall, Bruin coach Billy Martin got his
players together and showed them a video that was terribly painful
to watch.
It was a tape of the Baylor men’s tennis team celebrating
after beating UCLA in last season’s NCAA Championship match,
and it forced the Bruins to relive the awful memories of that day,
another chance at championship glory gone awry.
That day in the fall served as motivation for the Bruins, who
resolved to be back for another shot at Baylor. And with
UCLA’s 4-2 win over third-seeded Mississippi in the NCAA
semifinals on Monday, that resolution became a reality.
Seventh-seeded UCLA will play undefeated Baylor in today’s
final for the national title.
“We’ve hoped to be able to get the chance to play
Baylor all year, quite honestly,” Martin said. “We
wanted a chance to at least get a whack at them again in the NCAA
Championships, and we got it.”
This is the chance the Bruins have been waiting for since they
walked off the courts as downtrodden losers following the
championship match last season. It’s also a chance for the
Bruins to secure their first team championship since 1984, despite
advancing to the title match five times before today.
“It’s depressing,” senior Alberto Francis
said. “We have that banner in our team room that says
“˜1984.’ We want to add another one that says
“˜2005.'”
In order to get that chance, the Bruins (26-3) came out Monday
with a real sense of urgency, seizing control of the match from the
outset with impressive 8-3 victories at No. 2 and No. 3
doubles.
The convincing doubles victories took only 45 minutes, a far cry
from the previous two days, when UCLA was challenged for well over
an hour to secure the doubles point. On Monday, Luben Pampoulov and
Chris Lam won at No. 3 to improve to 12-0 in the season, while
Benjamin Kohlloeffel and Philipp Gruendler won their match at No. 2
after losing the previous two days.
“I think you could see from their guys that they were
really relying on the doubles point,” Kohlloeffel said.
“When we went up 7-3, you could really see their guys with
their heads down.”
And though Mississippi attempted to make a run in singles, the
1-0 doubles margin was simply too much for the Rebels (25-4) to
overcome, especially after Gruendler secured his first set in a
tiebreaker. The win gave UCLA four of its first six sets in
singles, but it was far from easy.
After jumping out to an early lead on Court 6, Gruendler lost
some concentration, missing three break opportunities to win the
set and then failing to hold his own serve.
Gruendler’s opponent, Karim Alayli, forced the set into a
tiebreaker and appeared to be in control at 5-3, but the Bruin
sophomore responded, reeling off four straight points and pushing
the momentum in UCLA’s favor for good.
“I think the tiebreaker was the most important thing for
me,” Gruendler said. “(Alayli) had just come back and
gained a lot of confidence, but somehow I got through it and won
that.”
Francis cruised to another easy victory in his match, defeating
Bram ten Berge 6-3, 6-0 at the No. 5 spot. Mississippi victories at
No. 1 and No. 4, followed by Gruendler finishing off his 7-6 (5),
6-1 victory, once again turned the attention to Kohlloeffel on
Court 2.
And just as he did the day before, Kohlloeffel clinched the
match for the Bruins, defeating Eric Claesson, 6-1, 6-3, to send
UCLA to the championship for the second straight season.
“We knew that Ben would probably have to come through for
us, as he has the whole tournament,” Martin said.
And now there remains one more day to come through. But the road
to that elusive title goes through Baylor, a team that hasn’t
lost in 57 straight matches.
For the Bruins, however, there seems to be no other way. Even
before the outcome of the Baylor-Florida semifinal match was
decided, many of the Bruins knew exactly who they wanted to see
today.
“There’s always this little thing in your brain and
your heart that says, “˜Give us Baylor,'”
Gruendler said. “”˜Give us the final revenge, and give
us the championship.'”